Many times people ask the question: "Why does Swiss Cheese have holes in it? Swiss cheese is one of the most well known cheeses that is currently on the market today and most people recognize it by its easily distinguishable holes that pepper entire blocks of the stuff.
Most people don't stop to think about why one of their favorite cheeses has holes in it when, in fact, it's a legitimate question that deserves to be addressed properly. Swiss cheese starts
out just like any other, with bacteria being introduced to milk. The milk begins to curdle as the bacteria thrive on it and produce something called lactic acid.
Lactic acid is also known as milk acid, for obvious reasons. As the bacteria eat away at the milk, they not only produce lactic acid but carbon dioxide as well. It is this compound that causes the holes. Trapped inside the rind of the cheese, the carbon dioxide begins to form bubbles in the finished cheese product. Some variations of Swiss cheese can have multiple holes as large as a
small walnut!
The longer the cheese is left to ferment, the larger the holes will be in the cheese as a whole. Some Swiss cheeses are named after the size of the holes that they boast. Certain types of Swiss cheese are made from pasteurized milk while others, such as Swiss Emmental, are left to be made from unpasteurized milk.
No matter what sort of milk is used, the bacteria curdles it and creates curds which are then pressed into molds and soaked in brine baths. It is the brine bath that forms the rind around the Swiss cheese and allows the carbon dioxide to start forming the hole that so define the cheese. Swiss cheese is so unique because, with any other loose cheese the carbon dioxide would have escaped through the rind and not created the holes at all.
-Written by Caitlyn Grisham
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